Interesting & Effective approach of dealing with Appraisals.

Dear All,

As I always maintain, one of the most critical & important functions of a good HR Professional is Performance Management. With the season of Performance appraisals coming closer with the advent of the Financial year end, I thought of sharing a mindset/approach towards effectively executing the same. There is a lot of content available on the web for you to refer, but I thought of putting it in a way that is simple, effective & that which makes Sense.

Please note that I have taken reference from a lot of articles I read recently while adding my experience to it.

Q. How do I write/create the perfect appraisal form /process ?

Ans: The appraisal process is the most critical process among the various processes carried out by an HR Professional. The key to creating a Perfect appraisal form is to have a realistic mindset & good pre & follow up documentation.

It begins with good planning, goal setting with your line managers, departmental heads and agreeing on what the expectations are and how you are going to measure them. It is mandatory for a good HR professional to have a clear understanding of the organizational goals set last year, their outcomes and the current goals. One of the most productive approaches to use to help write/create an effective Appraisal Form is using the "SMART" principle:

• S - Specific (Parameters to be rated upon)
• M - Measurable (Clear differentiation between Tangible & Intangible Parameters)
• A - Achievable/Attainable (Goals & Targets)
• R - Results oriented/Realistic/Relevant ( Future steps to meet the set Goals & Targets)
• T - Time bound (Clear deadlines & timelines for achieving the set goals)

The inclusion of the above criteria results in a goal that is understandable and easily visualized and evaluated. An unachieveable goal is just that, it is unrealistic & finally unachieveable. An employee knows when he/she does not stand a chance of reaching it and their effort to achieve the goal will be affected. At the same time, it does not at ALL mean that we set low goals/targets. That is the fine-line to be tread by the Managers in consultation with HR team & Top Management based on previous year's outcomes and future organizational goals.

Remember that the Appraisal form is not just any tool, but the final outcome of the entire appraisal process, would/could be based on the output reflected by THIS FORM ENTIRELY, THE RATINGS! A small mistake while making the form could impact the next year's salary of some employee/s, which could have a negative snowballing effect yielding unwanted outcomes like attrition, a feeling of dissent & disappointment, re-hiring & re-training (which are a huge cost) and most importantly, PRODUCTIVITY TIME LOST BY THE ORGANIZATION.

So keep it simple, straight and measurable! Something we do at SenseHR on a daily basis.

Interesting & Effective approach of dealing with Appraisals.

Dear All,

As I always maintain, one of the most critical & important functions of a good HR Professional is Performance Management. With the season of Performance appraisals coming closer with the advent of the Financial year end, I thought of sharing a mindset/approach towards effectively executing the same. There is a lot of content available on the web for you to refer, but I thought of putting it in a way that is simple, effective & that which makes Sense.

Please note that I have taken reference from a lot of articles I read recently while adding my experience to it.

Q. How do I write/create the perfect appraisal form /process ?

Ans: The appraisal process is the most critical process among the various processes carried out by an HR Professional. The key to creating a Perfect appraisal form is to have a realistic mindset & good pre & follow up documentation.

It begins with good planning, goal setting with your line managers, departmental heads and agreeing on what the expectations are and how you are going to measure them. It is mandatory for a good HR professional to have a clear understanding of the organizational goals set last year, their outcomes and the current goals. One of the most productive approaches to use to help write/create an effective Appraisal Form is using the "SMART" principle:

• S - Specific (Parameters to be rated upon)
• M - Measurable (Clear differentiation between Tangible & Intangible Parameters)
• A - Achievable/Attainable (Goals & Targets)
• R - Results oriented/Realistic/Relevant ( Future steps to meet the set Goals & Targets)
• T - Time bound (Clear deadlines & timelines for achieving the set goals)

The inclusion of the above criteria results in a goal that is understandable and easily visualized and evaluated. An unachieveable goal is just that, it is unrealistic & finally unachieveable. An employee knows when he/she does not stand a chance of reaching it and their effort to achieve the goal will be affected. At the same time, it does not at ALL mean that we set low goals/targets. That is the fine-line to be tread by the Managers in consultation with HR team & Top Management based on previous year's outcomes and future organizational goals.

Remember that the Appraisal form is not just any tool, but the final outcome of the entire appraisal process, would/could be based on the output reflected by THIS FORM ENTIRELY, THE RATINGS! A small mistake while making the form could impact the next year's salary of some employee/s, which could have a negative snowballing effect yielding unwanted outcomes like attrition, a feeling of dissent & disappointment, re-hiring & re-training (which are a huge cost) and most importantly, PRODUCTIVITY TIME LOST BY THE ORGANIZATION.

So keep it simple, straight and measurable! Something we do at SenseHR on a daily basis.

Gimme free salary!! Why !! Coz..duh...who cares...just give it to me

Hello All !

This is officially my first blog. Wow.. I am excited..Enough crap. After working for a long time as a HR professional, I started my own company recently and it goes by name of SenseHR (http://www.sensehr.com/). After getting some great response, it was natural to expand the team size and thus began my journey...

I began interviewing people to be a part of my company. It is weird and funny and a great learning experience to talk to people coming from various walks of life and having illusions and mostly delusions about a startup. Some are willing to accept a (any) job and are willing to fit in any role you give them ...guess wat?? ... read recession and lay-offs. These people are looking for what I call a STOP-GAP or temporary arrangement until the economy bounces back. Complete misfit for various reasons including the one stated above.

Next, comes a special variety of people to whom this blog is dedicated and trust me, these are the most fascinating ones of the lot. These people usually approach through a common friend or are referred as someone doing great for himself but missing that "frill of thrill" from his or her life which they will absolutely gain in a startup. Getting specific, I met this gentleman I call Mr.Infy who thought that after 4-5 yrs of coding, he had realised that his calling was Business Development or Sales. I said great. See, i am a big fan of Why & Why Not. Moving forward, when I asked him what made him so sure that he would be the best thing that ever hapened to Sales or BD Domain, he said, he JUST KNEW IT and narrated some examples where he had the opportunity of dealing with International clients and how his suggestions helped not only the tech side but also the BD team and the Client Servicing team. I was like, "great dude"!!

So, after establishing his skillset, we moved towards some key practical challenges of being a Sales guy. He obviously was not aware of many as he was not in the role as yet, which is completely acceptable. So finally, I asked him, "OK. Lets say if everything goes well and you do join us, how much salary would you expect??" Note: Until this point, the man has accepted that he has no background of sales or of BD and would love an opportunity of doing something he always wanted to do. So, ideally, he is getting an opportunity to try his hand at a completely new function at my cost. Mr.Infy said and I quote, "I Understand the fact that you are a startup and that the market condition is soooo bad...(5 sec pause).... OK, I wont push you, I would settle for a 20% hike on my current CTC (which btw was about 6 lacs ... Infy..remember)." At this point, I asked Mr.Infy, "OK, so lets paraphrase our conversation. You have close to 4 years of exp. in IT as a coder. You are from Mumbai and working in Pune and are looking to come back*. You want to explore sales and BD but have ZERO experience in it. And you want close to Rs.7+ lacs for doing that. " He said, "Right, Right." and smiled so innocently at me as if I was reading out his offer letter.

I rose and extended my hand for a handshake. I said, it was nice to meet and talk to you. While we were exchanging pleasantaries just before he left, I had a very strong urge(almost Chandler-like) to ask him the name of MY COMPANY. Coz, I was sure that he had mistaken us for Make A Wish or something like that...

- The SenseHR guy